Gayance reveals her ‘roaming’

Montreal-born, Lisbon-based producer, vocalist and DJ Gayance returns with her new single ‘Podjab’, a collaboration alongside acclaimed producer Jarreau Vandal featuring longtime friend and fellow Haitian Montrealer artist Waahli. Already earning early praise from Palms Trax, the single arrives alongside the announcement of Gayance’s forthcoming album, ‘roaming’.

Set for release during Libra season this year (9th Oct), ‘roaming’ follows Gayance’s Polaris Prize-shortlisted debut ‘Mascarade’. Described as a “sonic scrapbook”, the album gathers ideas, memories and influences collected across a decade spent moving between Montreal, Lisbon, Brazil and beyond. Where ‘Mascarade’ introduced Gayance the performer, ‘roaming’ reveals something more personal: a collection of songs shaped by movement, observation and the search for grounding. Exploring “the ‘political movement’ of the diaspora” through a fluid, globally informed sound, ‘roaming’ is rooted in her Haitian heritage and shaped by years navigating international club culture – the album captures an artist redefining her relationship with both place and self.

With ‘Podjab’, Gayance as a Haitian descendant, taps into a sound that is familiar and that has been steadily gaining momentum across dancefloors from Paris and Lisbon, to London and Montreal. Drawing on the rhythmic pull of old school Kompa (Coupé Kloué, Tabou Combo, Alan Kavé) and Mizikasin from the 80s and 90s (RAM, Boukman Eksperyans, Eddy François) while retaining the adventurous spirit of contemporary club Surinamese-Dutch music, the track occupies a space between underground electronic culture and the wider Afro-Carribean diasporic sounds currently finding new audiences around the world.

Gayance says: “‘roaming’, my sophomore album, is a project I didn’t know I was working on for the past decade by just living and travelling around, these songs are stories from this era of my life. It’s the complexity of completing by experimenting on a timeline of 9 years of friendship, roaming around and moving from city to city. Leaving a few people behind with songs about them that will stay with raw feelings and no bullshit edits. Anthems about moving forward and reminders about how grateful I am about the journey, despite the highs and lows.”

Following the breakthrough success of her debut Mascarade (Rhythm Section International), Gayance faced a period of intense personal and professional pressure. A relocation to Lisbon, paired with a deeper focus on herbalism and spirituality, created space for reflection and healing, ultimately informing the emotional and conceptual core of ‘roaming’.

Across the record, themes of release, transformation and self-preservation come to the fore. ‘Better For My Heart’ featuring Judith Little D, stands as “an anthem of emotional purging and radical self-worth,” evolving over several years into a high-energy fusion of house, R&B and gospel influences. Focus track ‘Ensemble’ marks a significant first, written in French and offering a “cathartic examination of ‘chosen family’ and the necessity of setting boundaries.”

Read more about the album here: https://tru-thoughts.co.uk/releases/roaming-pre-order/